by Jeff Inlo
The simplicity of the peril became obvious to the elf elder. She looked to the fireball hovering over the southern section of the city. Once the infern was assaulted by the town guard, a haze of shadowy demons would descend from the sky and choke the life from every inhabitant. Connel would be overrun, and Reiculf would reach through the chaos and take everything he desired.
Shantree had two very capable spell casters at her disposal. Scheff and Haven could have employed a multitude of spells to protect the infern. Unfortunately, using such magic offered its own hazards. She was not simply fighting an infern and a serp. She knew the full fury of Reiculf's power would ultimately rise against them. Squandering the energy of her most powerful spell casters would be a decision she knew she would regret, and so, the elf elder chose another path. To succeed, she needed to utilize the power of Enin's apprentice.
"Holli, you wield emerald magic," the elder acknowledged. "Use it now. Bind every human soldier advancing upon the infern."
Holli had no desire to argue, but she felt the need to alert Shantree to her limitations.
"I cannot hold them for long,"
"Hopefully, it will be long enough."
Holli accepted the elder's authority as if she was once more an elf guard responsible for the safety of her camp. She prepared her spell quickly, and let the green energy of her essence explode outward onto the streets.
Vines grew from the dirt and in between cobblestone cracks. Wisps of long, green plants climbed upwards like small geysers shooting up from boiling underground springs. Thousands of slender stems swiftly snaked outward and took hold of the soldiers by their arms and legs. The green strands pulled and twisted with ferocious tenacity and forced the guards to the ground.
The human soldiers fought against the assault, hacked against the gripping vines. They shrieked in anger and frustration as their swords and knives were ripped from their fingers. They pulled violently against the strands, trying to rip the roots from the ground like unwanted weeds. They managed to tear a few vines, but their struggles only managed to entwine them deeper into the confining grip of the magically enhanced plants.
"Excellent," Shantree offered.
"The spell will not last," Holli warned. "They are struggling against me and more soldiers will come to their aid."
"It will hold long enough," the elder advised, and then she turned to Scheff and Haven. "Conserve your magic. It may yet be needed. Keep watch while I am gone. Do not allow the infern to leave. Contain it if necessary."
"Where are you going?" Scheff asked.
"To get help."
#
Ansas looked over the grassy hills. There were no towns on the horizon. He could see the Colad Mountains to the north, but he was not sure of his exact position.
"Where are we?" he demanded.
"The foothills west of Dark Spruce and north of the badlands that lead to the Lacobian Desert," Enin answered.
"Gnafil's going to follow us," Ansas warned.
"I realize that. We're not staying."
"He won't give up, either, and you're going to leave a trail."
"I'm going to conceal it."
"You can't hide it completely. You know that."
"It will be enough to slow him down."
Enin cast two quick spells. The first was nothing more than a magical burst, a mystical disruption in the air. Waves of energy would linger, distorting the remnants of any spell cast in the area. He knew it would not completely mask his next incantation, but it would certainly make their path more difficult to isolate, even to someone as powerful as Reiculf. Satisfied with the bristling streams of static, the wizard quickly cast another spell of teleportation.
The sorcerer once more found himself in new surroundings, and he could smell and feel the spray of the ocean. Ansas looked over the cliff ledge before him and saw the great western sea. He wondered if Enin was making yet another strategic error.
"Do you think the water will help us?"
"It can't hurt. Gnafil's power is of fire."
The sorcerer knew that Enin's spell of distortion back in the hills had offered them a small reprieve. The infern would struggle to find their path, and the distraction allowed them time to formulate a new strategy. Their considerations, however, needed to be based on the reality they faced, and he believed Enin was underestimating their foe.
"It's Reiculf's magic that will take you, not Gnafil's. You won't be able to use the ocean to fight colorless magic."
"I realize that, but we're still facing an infern as well, and we have to grab any advantage we can."
"Advantage?" The concept appeared to enrage the sorcerer. "You gave away our advantage! Every teleportation spell you cast, no matter how well concealed with tricks and distractions, will create a path to your exact location. They have a map to you, and Reiculf will not let you escape. You can teleport all over Uton, even to other dimensions. It won't save you. Eventually you will exhaust your energy. You might be able to keep running for days, but Reiculf will outlast you. It is a simple equation."
"I have no intention of running any further. We will fight him here."
"Then you might as well just turn yourself over to Reiculf now and save us the trouble," Ansas fumed. "You cannot possibly be that ignorant to what we're up against."
"I know our foe. We face Gnafil, and the infern is empowered by the magic of Reiculf. I brought us here because I can draw great energy from this place... and so can you. Alteration is one of the qualities of your ebony magic. At this point, it is at its greatest. The transformation of the elements from the land, sea and sky will strengthen you as well."
"Against Reiculf? It still will not be enough!"
"We were able to beat Scheff," Enin argued.
"We had more spell casters in the forest, and I had a plan! Scheff was the easiest of the three to defeat. That's why I chose him. Gnafil will be the most difficult. He is part demon and his connection to Reiculf will be the strongest."
"Then what do you suggest? You brought us to Connel. You knew we were going to be attacked. Didn't you have a plan?"
"I did, but that was before you decided to take on Reiculf by yourself!"
"I made a mistake, I admit it, but what was your plan?"
"To force Reiculf to expand energy against Connel."
Enin finally understood Ansas' strategy. From the beginning, the sorcerer had planned to sacrifice others, just as Reiculf planned to use the half-demons.
"You were going to let Connel suffer?"
"The city was going to suffer no matter what I did. You made Connel your home. You brought Reiculf's wrath to the city, not me."
Enin shook his head in disgust, angry not only with the sorcerer, but also with himself for being so blind.
"That was your plan all along, wasn't it? You wanted us all in Connel to bring Reiculf's pawns to the city. You wanted a battle, fully expected Gnafil and Macheve to decimate the city. That's why you sent the others out into the streets. You were going to have Jure and Haven fight them from opposite sides of Connel. They probably would have died."
"Probably?" Ansas questioned. "Almost definitely. And you can blame me all you want, but I didn't invite Reiculf to Connel, you did."
"So we're back to arguing about blame? We can't do that! Not here, not now. We need to stop them."
"We won't be able to accomplish that here!" the sorcerer insisted.
Realizing that arguing would not solve their dilemma, Enin decided to accept Ansas' judgment. They could not fight Gnafil under the current circumstances, even in the place of his choosing where the elements offered their greatest advantage. Knowing that the half-demon would soon appear, he decided to make a gesture of his own.
"Alright, we don't fight him here. I'm going to move us again."
Raising his hand, Enin cast another spell of disruption and then teleported them across Uton. They ended up on a lonely road in the northern highlands. A biting wind cut across the plains and thick clouds filled the northeastern
skies.
"First the sea and now the cold," Ansas remarked. "You're still acting as if we're facing just an infern."
"No, I'm trying to stay away from towns... away from the innocent."
"You can do that all you wish, but eventually you'll have to return to Connel. We both know that. Reiculf does too, but he doesn't care. He'll keep Gnafil on your trail until you go back on your own. He has a direct line to you and he won't let that go. He's going to keep following you."
"So what do we do?" questioned Enin.
"We do what we must. We go back."
"No! I won't follow your plan. I won't put the city in jeopardy."
"It already is! You think the inferns are gone... or the darowks? How long do you think it will be before the inferns decide to turn their flames on the town buildings instead of shooting them up into the air? They'll start burning homes. Jure can contain one, and Haven the other. They have the power, but Reiculf won't leave it at that. He'll send more. He'll send a whole army of inferns into Connel. Eventually one will die and the darowks will swarm into the city."
Enin imagined the terror. Swarms of vaporous demons darting down Connel's streets. The guard would have no way to fight them. Arrows and swords would be useless. The only way to fight them was with magic. Jure and Scheff might be able to hold out. Haven might have even more success. But they would weaken and then Reiculf would strike.
"If we go back, what can we do?" Enin demanded.
Ansas glared silently at the wizard. He would have liked to see Connel burn and then choke under the shadow of demons gone wild, let Enin suffer for acting so rashly. The wizard had disregarded his orders, took control from the sorcerer by heading out on his own to face Gnafil. Ansas did not want that to happen again. To win, he needed to keep them all under his command, but he also needed to remember his enemy.
"We regroup," Ansas finally relented. "We let Gnafil follow your trail and we wait for him in Connel. Hopefully, the others followed my instructions and the darowks have not yet descended upon the city. Maybe Jure and Haven will have sufficient energy to distract the infern when he reaches the city. I won't be able to break the link between Reiculf and Gnafil the way I did with Scheff. It's too strong, but our combined magic may be enough to weaken the half-demon. If so, it might make a mistake before the serp joins the battle. If we keep it isolated, we have a chance to defeat it."
#
Ryson raced down an alley and came out on the main road just behind the platoon of soldiers. He didn't want to engage them head on. It was too dangerous for all concerned. He thought of trying to distract them, instigating them into chasing him, but he realized such a tactic was pointless. Under Macheve's spell, they would hold to a single purpose. They were determined to kill the infern.
Hoping to render them less dangerous, he rushed them from behind. Catching the trailing members off guard, he managed to slash three upon their lower arms. The wounds were not severe, just deep enough to cause minor pain and force them to drop their weapons. Before they knew what had happened, he snatched up their swords and raced back into the alley. He threw the blades out of sight and rushed around the corner of a general store.
The guards hesitated. They remained spread across the wide road which led to the infern, and they looked toward many of the side streets and alleys that emptied out toward their position. After a long and uncertain pause, they began a slow march forward.
The three in the rear that were weaponless appeared dazed. They knew they could no longer assist in attacking the infern. Their empty hands would be useless against the black armor that protected the half-demon. Still, they remained with the platoon. The influence of the serp dulled their judgment even as it urged them onward.
Letting the soldiers advance slightly down the road, Ryson came at them again from a different alley. He disarmed four more in a similar manner, and again grabbed their weapons from off the ground. Rather than retreat to another alley, he tossed the newly obtained swords up on a nearby rooftop.
Remaining in the street, he ran around the entire platoon, hoping to confuse them with his speed. He never came close enough to any one soldier to recklessly endanger himself, but he made his presence known. He had to make it clear he would deter them in any way possible.
The ploy worked. The soldiers reformed into a tight group and placed their focus upon the delver as opposed to the half-demon further up the road. They might have been steadfast in their purpose, but they suddenly had to regard the delver as a threat to their mission. If they all lost their weapons, they would have no way to attack the infern.
Once he had their undivided attention, Ryson called for the cliff behemoth. As Dzeb rushed over toward the soldiers, Ryson bolted back toward the infern. He remained out of the half-demon's sight and then dodged into yet another alley to scout out additional roads leading to the infern.
Dzeb's towering approach left the soldiers even more uncertain. They had hoped to adjust their formation to compensate for the delver's speed and were suddenly left facing a determined giant. Clustered together in the center of the street, they never had a chance.
The behemoth moved with a swiftness that seemed impossible for one of his size. He stamped one foot thunderously down upon the road, and then leapt at the startled guards. He took hold of the closest soldier, the tall and muscular sergeant who was in command. Dzeb's grip remained firm and he would not allow the soldier to strike out, but he was also careful not to cause injury. He swung the sergeant backward into the center of the platoon and achieved his desired results.
The large guard within the hold of the mighty titan could not avoid crashing into his comrades. His shoulders acted like a battering ram as he smashed into the chest of one guard after another. Those that were struck fell back into other guards, causing them to collide into the soldiers behind. The entire platoon became one jumbled mass, and soon they were on the ground in a confused pile.
Dzeb plucked their weapons from their hands or from the ground. He flung them high onto surrounding rooftops as Ryson had done. With the entire platoon disarmed, the behemoth returned to Jure's side, leaving the soldiers stunned and unable to follow through with their intended violence.
"There will be more," the giant responded with a hint of sorrow in his voice.
"Maybe a great deal more," Jure confirmed. "We can't let them kill the infern, but we can't harm the guards, either."
"I have no intention of doing so."
"I know you don't, but we're going to have to think of something. Macheve is going to adjust her attack."
"Godson will show us the way."
Ryson dropped down from a nearby rooftop and revealed everything he saw.
"I checked the streets and did one quick scout from the rooftops. The fire in the east is still burning. Either Macheve is ignoring that infern or the elves have kept it safe."
"I doubt Macheve is just focusing on one," Jure offered.
"That's probably the case, but we have to hope the elves can hold out. We have bigger problems. More soldiers are headed toward us, from just about every direction. They're breaking up into smaller groups and moving in from all angles, using the side streets. Macheve must have seen how we handled the first platoon. She's not going to make the same mistake again."
"And time is working against us," Jure added. "If Macheve starts calling on more soldiers, then the attacks will become more varied. Archers may be our biggest worry."
"The infern is still wearing its black armor," Ryson reminded the wizard. "That works to our advantage. A distance shot from an arrow or long throw from a spear probably won't do the job, unless they get lucky."
"It may not depend on luck. The infern isn't protecting itself. All it will take is one clear shot. With the soldiers spreading out, it's going to be easier for one to slip by. The guards we disarm will find more weapons and return."
"What if we move the infern, carry it or teleport it out of the city?"
"I had thought of that before. Reiculf wi
ll just send more."
"He may anyway."
Jure couldn't argue. He even wondered why the daokiln only sent two inferns and why Macheve placed them so close to their own defenses. It couldn't have just been a coincidence. It was more likely that Reiculf was just toying with them, forcing them to expend as much energy as possible. They would tire protecting the one infern, and the elves in the east would face the same dilemma.
"We'll deal with that problem when it happens," Jure noted, holding to the only bit of optimism he could find. "Ansas placed us here for a reason. He knew Connel would be attacked, so we have to hope it works out in our favor. Maybe he and Enin can douse the fireball and close the gateway. For now, we focus on the infern closest to us."
"I'll do what I can," Ryson offered. "I'll concentrate on the back alleys and the rooftops. It's where I have an advantage."
"Good," Jure agreed. "Dzeb, can you cover the main roads to the south and east? Keep the soldiers away?"
"I will do as you ask."
"I'll watch the north and west. I can use force barriers to block them. I don't want to use too much energy, we'll probably need it."
The dire warning did not surprise the delver. Ryson looked up at the fireball. It remained in the sky with the swirling smoke a reminder of the evil waiting to engulf the city. And it was evil that prepared to attack them, evil born of hate, evil so sinister it had to be cut off from the rest of existence.
That thought raised the delver's awareness, and he began to understand the depth of Reiculf's wickedness. Uton had been far from perfect. It suffered from its own injustices, as did Connel. Pain and suffering caused by selfish and despicable deeds plagued every corner of the city, as well as every portion of the land. He could not dismiss the sins which existed before the hate of Demonspawn rushed to their gates, and yet it paled in comparison to the malice which hungered to consume them.
A far more ominous evil had been freed and found a way to reach into Ryson's world, and such powers did not care about rules or honor. The delver felt as if they stood at the foot of a great dam, but instead of water, a swell of corrupt shadows waited impatiently to cascade down upon Connel. Those shadows were held back by an unsteady wall, and like a poorly arranged tower of twigs, it was ready to collapse.